UP TO DATE. 531 



as far as practicable, be lighted as recommended in the 

 committee's report by not less than one hundred and fifty 

 lights." A contract was made with the Electric Company 

 and the lights were turned on in our streets September 

 14, 1890. 



The day of dark streets was left behind in the progress; 

 of our town. 



Whether seen from the water or from some high point/ 

 of land, these strings of brilliant beads hanging upom 

 hillsides and in valleys vindicate their place by their) 

 beauty as well as by their usefulness. The muffled throb-i 

 bing of the engine which runs the dynamo may be heard, 

 in the quiet evenings as we sit at home under the glow: 

 of the incandescent loops, thinking, perhaps, of the lives 

 and homes of long ago. 



But the lamps which illumine our highways were much: 

 more pitifully needed in the years of our ancestors than 

 now, for of all our improvements perhaps none is more 

 marked than the smoothness of our highways. Origi- 

 nally rough beyond any description, they have been 

 blasted and dug and built up by incessant care for two 

 centuries. They will probably never be straight, and 

 indeed the curves of them contribute an element of 

 beauty; but the many thousand dollars expended upon 

 them have been well spent. And herein the character of 

 the town as a summer resort again is manifest, for those 

 who have found their pleasure in driving upon our high- 

 ways have required that the thousands of dollars in taxes 

 which they have paid be applied in a fair measure to 

 street improvements. 



A passion for new roads was shown during the ten 

 years from 1876 to 1886. Doane Street, Forest Avenue, 

 Atlantic Avenue (from Beach Street to the Cove), and 

 Nichols Avenue were all undertaken. 



Doane Street, so named in honor of James C. Doane,* 



* Formerly a member of the Board of County Commissioners. 



